Slight tax can help Amtrak

Over the weekend, train aficionados across the country marked National Train Day. Now, we should ask our elected officials to support a dedicated capital revenue stream that could include allocating a penny-per-gallon gasoline tax to Amtrak. These funds could provide a reliable yearly source for financing capital investments to upgrade tracks, signals, passenger equipment, stations and maintenance facilities.
Any responsible agency needs the assistance of a long-term, dedicated revenue stream. This is needed to develop a capital infrastructure plan for maintaining both an operating system in a state of good repair and any system expansion. Perhaps, there should be a reasonable minimum farebox recovery rate of 50 percent to justify continued operation of any route.
Then, we could give local governments one year to come up with locally generated operating assistance to support service on routes to those communities that can’t meet this goal.
In the long run, these simple reforms would take the politics out of intercity passenger service.
We should ask unions to allow management more flexibility in work rules and assignments to support greater productivity. Then, some of the savings accrued from this should be shared with workers.
With all of this, many more routes could survive, and some would grow stronger. Service on other high-density corridors beyond the Northeast routes might also come closer to financially operating with minimal subsidy or even turn a small profit, which Amtrak management could use to support other routes.
How many times have winter storms stranded thousands at airports while Amtrak kept rolling?
Amtrak’s ability to reduce travel time by increasing the speed of the service in high-density corridors can provide consumers with choices other than flying.Larry PennerGreat Neck